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Monday, 8 July 2013

Everyone's favourite Aunty

This is a post from last year, all travel now is to see the boys and I'm off again soon, hence the update.

I’m travelling alone again, having left hubby and the boys
back in South Africa to sort out evicting our tenants. I hate being away from
my family for so long, in fact in 14 years I’ve know my husband this is the
longest we have spent apart. Up until we became expats it was him doing all the
travelling, but the balance has shifted.

Most of my friends have young children and in the past,
almost 3 years their children just see me as either Suzanne or Chickenruby who
visits with gifts twice a year from a country far. They’ve forgotten I have
children and have no concept of children being anything but like themselves and
not teenagers and adults.

When I visit I do a lot of travelling and visiting, it’s
easier on my own for family and friends to offer a spare room or let me sleep
on their sofa. The concept of me having a husband and children seems to have
disappeared and although people do ask about everyone, their relationship is
now with just me and not my family as a whole.

I feel like everyone’s single friend, to children I am the
‘favourite’ aunty, for family I am their daughter, sister, mother and to
strangers I must appear as a spinster.

I want t-shirts printed for different occasions.

When I’m out on my own it must read ‘married expat with
kids, visiting the homeland’

When I’m out with parents ‘I’m not their carer, nor special
needs’

When I’m out with friends ‘Don’t forget there is more to my
life than just being able to travel’

Do other expats feel the same way? Do you have family and
friends, even in the same country and feel this way when you visit?